Spring Ice Conditions - Grand Rapids, MN
Tioga Landing on Pokegama Lake, March 27, 2023
This week’s report is brought to you by Jeff Johnson. Jeff is a local fishing guide during the winter, spring, summer, and fall. If you are interested in a guided fishing trip around the Grand Rapids, MN area or the Lake Winnie area check out Jeff’s Page for more information.
Most anglers are highly anticipating open water fishing opportunities in Northern Minnesota. However, there are some anglers who love the ice just as much. They know this time of year can produce some of the best fishing of the entire winter season. One key thing I have noticed over the years is when the downspout on the gutter begins to run hard, there are panfish biting. Might be one more reason or excuse to leave a little extra snow on the roof next winter.
This weekend for me personally, was dedicated to my daughter Winnie. She has been actively waiting for the father daughter dance that takes place at the IRA Civic Center in Grand Rapids, MN every spring. Saturday was all about her. The fishing would have to be put on hold. Along with this, the arrival of my new boat also created a list of chores that needed to be done in the garage that has accumulated way too much ice fishing gear, even for a winter ice fishing guide. Time to organize!
Winnie and I did get a chance on Saturday before the dance to take a drive and check out some of the ice conditions on our local lakes around the Grand Rapids area. Our first stop was Bass Lake near Cohasset. My family has enjoyed many days ice fishing on this body of water this time of year. From our view of the lake, we noticed a few anglers out and about. One interesting thing I noticed was that I didn’t see any type of vehicle, snowmobile, or atv on the ice. Did everyone walk out? I can’t answer that for sure, but it sure seemed that way.
Our next stop was Tioga Landing on Pokegama Lake. Here we noticed a few anglers out, not a lot, but once again there was no vehicle, snowmobile, or atv traffic happening on the lake. Everyone that I saw out, was walking. I don’t have the boots on the ground information to be able to say for sure, but maybe, finally this winter, traffic on the lakes is not so great. From the landing and the picture posted above you can see that there has been some recent traffic. I know one thing for sure, if you are planning to get out this week I would make sure to have the snowmobile ready to go. Vehicle traffic was non-existent. With the absence of wheel houses and permanents, people are not keeping up on roads that had been maintained all winter long. The snowpack is definitely receding, so I can't imagine it will be too long before the conditions will improve and give anglers a little more flexibility before all is said and done.
The landings this time of year are what take a beating and can often create dangers or limit anglers' abilities to have access to the lake. As we drove a little farther past the landing we noticed a very interesting site. Open water along shore! Once these open areas begin, they spread out in size very quickly. The movement of water caused by wind and currents can eat away at the ice pack pretty fast. I wouldn’t expect it to be too long before the access at Tioga starts showing signs of weakening ice.
I plan to get out on the ice a few more times yet. However, with the new boat needing to be rigged I have a feeling I am going to be pretty tied up over the next month. We will do our best to keep posting weekly updates on ice conditions for the Grand Rapids area and the Lake Winnie area this spring.